With a commanding lead among men, Ohio Gov. John Kasich leads likely Democratic
challengers in an early look at the 2014 governor's race, 46 - 37 percent over Cuyahoga County
Executive Ed Fitzgerald and 45 - 38 percent over U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Director Richard Cordray, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

The Republican governor's margins remain virtually unchanged from the results of a
February 28 survey by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University.

"In a state where self-described Democrats outnumber Republicans 35 - 27 percent,
Kasich seems to be in reasonably good shape as he looks ahead to the 2014 gubernatorial
election," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
"The fact that he leads his two potential Democratic opponents by 20 and 17 points respectively
among the key independent voting bloc is a good indication that he starts the campaign with the
voting public seeing him positively.

"There is a large gender gap in the Ohio electorate when it comes to Kasich's reelection.
The gender gap is a factor in virtually all political campaigns these days, but its size at this point
in this race seems a bit larger than normal."

For Cordray, 66 percent of voters don't know enough about him to form an opinion. For
Fitzgerald, 76 percent don't know enough.

"These numbers indicate that County Executive Ed Fitzgerald and Financial Protection
Bureau Director Richard Cordray are not well-known to voters," Brown added. "Should they
undertake the race, they will need to define themselves positively in the eyes of the mass of
voters who don't yet have an opinion about either man,

"One bad sign for Kasich is that he does not hit 50 percent in the reelection matchups or
in the general question of whether he deserves reelection."

In each race, independent voters provide the governor's winning margin.

Kasich seems to have something of a moderate ideological image: 26 percent say he is
too conservative, while 10 percent say he is too liberal and 47 percent say he is "about right."

Views of the less-known Fitzgerald and Cordray are unformed, as about half of voters in
each case say they can't place them on the ideological scale.

Voters are split 24 - 26 percent on whether Fitzgerald has the right experience to be
governor. Cordray has the right experience, voters say 31 - 27 percent.

Underpinning Kasich's early strength is a generally positive review from voters about his
handling of the economy, 49 - 41 percent approval. A total of 38 percent of voters rate Ohio's
economy as "excellent" or "good," the highest scores ever. Another 60 percent say the economy
is "not so good" or "poor."

From April 10 - 15, Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,138 registered voters with a
margin of error of +/- 2.9 percentage points. Live interviewers call land lines and cell phones.

The Quinnipiac University Poll, directed by Douglas Schwartz, Ph.D., conducts public
opinion surveys in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, Ohio, Virginia
and the nation as a public service and for research.

For more information, visit http://www.quinnipiac.edu/polling, call (203) 582-5201, or
follow us on Twitter.

1. If the election for Governor were being held today, and the candidates were Ed Fitzgerald the Democrat and John Kasich the Republican, for whom would you vote?